Saturday, June 28, 2014

Right Click / Lisa Becker

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Author:

A resident
of Southern California where she lives with her husband and two daughters, Lisa
Becker is the author of two previous novels, both part of the series which
concludes with this book. The first, Click:
An Online Love Story was a nominee in the 2014 BigAl’s Books and Pals
Readers’ Choice awards.

Description:

“Love.
Marriage. Infidelity. Parenthood. Crises of identity. Death. Cupcakes. The
themes in Right Click, the third and
final installment in the Click series, couldn't be more pressing for this group
of friends as they navigate through their 30's. Another six months have passed
since we last eavesdropped on the hilarious, poignant and often times
inappropriate email adventures of Renee and friends. As the light-hearted,
slice of life story continues to unfold, relationships are tested and some need
to be set ‘right’ before everyone can find their happily ever after.”

Appraisal:

As the
description says, this is the third and final book in Becker’s “Click” series.
As with the rest of the series, the book is done as a series of emails amongst
a core group of friends with the character Renee as the main participant or
focal point. After I finished I started thinking about this technique: its
positives, negatives, and the ways this makes the book different.

With this
format, some of the things an author should normally try to limit or avoid
aren’t going to be as big of a deal. One example is the adage to “show, don’t
tell.” It still applies. The words one character uses in an email to another
should mostly demonstrate (show) what they’re feeling so that we’ll read
between the lines, but that same character can also get away with spelling out
exactly how they felt or telling their interpretation of how another character
reacted. The key is to hit the right balance between using the same story
telling techniques as in a more traditionally formatted novel while not going
so far as to make the emails lose credibility as emails. Becker hit this
balance.

I also
found the email technique worked for me because I do so much via email. I think
most of us do. But for anyone who is non-tech savvy and doesn’t use email or
only in a limited way, it might be a tough read.

As with the
rest of the series, I found the story funny, entertaining, and realistic. The
interplay between the characters that was possible because of the format was
amusing and, just as I’ve done, sometimes a character forgets who else is
copied in on their response, stirring up a touch of conflict between friends.
Although I’ll miss Renee and gang, Becker didn’t leave me wondering where the
characters go from here, and brought the series to a satisfying conclusion.

FYI:

Some adult
language and subject matter.

Although it
might be possible to read Right Click
as a standalone, it is a culmination of a lot of story lines introduced in the
fist two books of the series. To really appreciate the full import of
everything that happens, I’d advise reading the first two books of the series
first.

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